St. Louis : Office - Q2 2017

The St. Louis market continues to be robust with promising unemployment and strong construction. The area’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rating continued to fall during the first half of 2017, reaching 4.0% at the end of the second quarter 40 basis-points below the National average of 4.4% and dipping as low as 3.8% in March. Unemployment for St. Louis hasn’t touched levels this low since November 2000 when it hit 4.0%. Over the past five years St. Louis has seen a 7.7% growth in office-using employment adding over 26,000 jobs. In addition to steady job growth, new private housing permits for single units have consecutively remained above 450 for the past seven months, which has not been seen since the beginning of 2008.